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Comment Signing certificate per platform (Score 1) 104

Apart from platforms that use OpenPGP, such as .deb-based GNU/Linux platforms, each platform has a separate signing certificate. OS X has its own, Android has its own, iOS has its own, and Windows has two: Authenticode for desktop applications and the Windows Store developer license for immersive applications. For small developers, it's a hassle to keep all of them renewed, but for companies big enough to draw targeted attacks like this, it's a benefit.

Comment Re:Microsoft Office on Android? (Score 1) 247

Based only on the name, CloudOn looks like it works on the same principle as VNC, RDP, or OnLive. This has two implications: it doesn't work at all on a tablet disconnected from the Internet, such as a tablet being used while riding the bus. And even when you do have Internet access, such as the phone docked for use as a desktop computer that fauxjargon mentioned, it'll eat through your monthly cap. The PDF overview confirms my guess: offline use does not work.

Based on the same PDF overview, something else worries me:

Any edits you make to your files within the CloudOn workspace are automatically saved, so there is no need to take an explicit save action using the File menu. We also do not currently offer a "Save As" feature although that is something we are considering for a future release

Automatic saving means no way to Revert. I have lost data in the past when deletions were automatically saved.

Comment Key continuity management: MITM'd from day one (Score 1) 104

What you describe is called "key continuity management".

First time you get a public key from an email that you trust

How should one decide to trust a particular e-mail? The sender can spoof the From address.

SSH currently will do a key exchange using the first-time approach without a certification authority

Your SSH connection could be MITM'd from day one and you might not notice it.

Comment Advantages of a barrier to entry (Score 1) 104

Some people, such as a PlayStation fan on Slashdot who will remain nameless, would argue that a barrier to entry is a good thing. It ensures that anybody who wants to distribute software to the public is serious about creating quality software. It's a fallacy, but like other fallacies, appeal to accomplishment springs from a heuristic: companies that have successfully published quality works in the past are more likely to publish quality works in the future. The example he likes to trot out is the North American video game recession of 1983, when there was so much shovelware crap on store shelves that neither players nor retailers could find which 2600 games were worthwhile. The North American market pretty much abandoned video games until the fourth quarter of 1985 when Nintendo added a lockout chip to its new Nintendo Entertainment System to assure retailers that only games that Nintendo had evaluated for a certain baseline quality level would be allowed to run.

Comment Android alt-tabs too (Score 1) 247

One of my most needed feature is quick multi-tasking ala alt-tab.

My Nexus 7 tablet running Android 4.2 has an on-screen button to the right of "Home" to bring up screenshots of the five most recently used applications, and the list scrolls. A similar menu shows if I pair a ZAGGkeys Flex keyboard, hold the Alt/Option key, and press the Tab key a few times.

Comment Android 4 != Android 1 (Score 1) 247

>Android, as is, has the reputation of being a resource hog

No it kind of doesn't it runs on on very basic hardware..the first phone it sold on was the HTC dream.

The HTC Dream ran Android 1. Is Android 4 as lean as Android 1?

Comment Re:Actual Window Manager (Score 1) 247

Why [Samsung] haven't added an option to try force [multi-window mode] on an app is another question.

Probably because Samsung doesn't want to lose the license to include Google Play Store and the rest of the Gapps. Please see the replies from Google engineers in a Google+ thread linked from Andy Dodd's comment.

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